Will Christopher Nolan return for Batman 3? We explore the Worst Case Scenario and see which men can fill his boots should Nolan part company with the franchise.
You are the head of Warner Bros. Comic Book Movies are huge business but your track record of producing them hasn't been consistent or stellar, with the exception of Watchmen and the Batman franchise. You watch with envious eyes as Marvel position themselves to a platform where they can release as many as six movies per year in the very near future, if their blueprint for success turns out the way they have planned. 2011 alone should see Spider-Man 4, Captain America and Thor, with possibly more TBA. Marvel are winning the race but you have the Batman ace up your sleeve, a character who is possibly the most popular protagnist in the history of film. But you are starting to get nervous. Your director Christopher Nolan is seriously considering his future with the franchise, he may be ready to move on - you may be about lose your biggest asset. Christian Bale also begins to get cold feet too and is now confused over what is going on with the series. You have given Chris Nolan 1/5th of The Dark Knight box office takings to make his science fiction epic Inception and to give him some time to clear his head as he ponders his future. But it's clear you must start to come up with a contigency plan if the Worst Case Scenario was indeed to happen. As we like to do at OWF, and what we recently did with Ghostbusters 3, here's our official 7 directors that could replace Nolan for the next movie...
KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY - David Goyer to direct Batman 3 where Chris Nolan left off, from a Jonathan Nolan script.
David Goyer's contributions to the Batman film franchise should not be under-estimated. When Chris Nolan first became assigned with the task of resurrecting the Caped Crusader he admitted that although he was a fan of the character, he wasn't a comic book fanatic and there were many facets to the character and his mythology that he didn't know. So he went out and hired Goyer, the man who knew more about the franchise than anyone else he spoke too. He hired a real comic book geek. Goyer's much lauded script for Batman Begins turned a character last seen in the camp and fantastical Batman & Robin into a man and a world we could relate to. He knows Bruce Wayne inside out, and much of what Nolan has directed story wise has come from Goyer's imagination. It's clear that script writer and Chris Nolan's brother Jonathan Nolan and David Goyer are the real Batman fans and both pleaded with Nolan to make a Batman sequel with The Dark Knight. They are doing the same for the new Batman movie right now but it might be an impossible task. Should Goyer and Nolan make a movie together? It would seem to make sense to give the reigns to the "second in command" as it were but then Goyer's directing talent isn't even mediocre. It's retched (Blade Trinity, The Unborn, The Invisible).
IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY - Ridley Scott to direct Batman 3
Before production was to start on Batman Begins, Chris Nolan took the whole cast and crew to a specially arranged screening of Ridley Scott's epic 80's science fiction movie Blade Runner and proudly proclamied "THIS IS HOW WE DO IT". Watching Batman Begins, it's almost like a prequel to BR, before technology and architectural nostalgia completely took over the landscape. Nolan's Gotham owes so much to Scott's movie and Nolan has certainly positioned himself into Scott-like calibre of director with the work he has been contributing to the industry for the past ten years. Scott is one of the true greats and he would instantly command the respect of the likes of Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman who would start to become nervous at the thought of a new director coming in. He is of course British also, so working with a Brit crew will be no problem. He has never directed a comic book movie before but he knows blockbuster as much as anyone else (Gladiator, Alien, Robin Hood).
IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY No. 2 - Michael Mann to direct Batman 3
The Dark Knight was almost a comic book remake of Heat... a movie Michael Mann had made over ten years earlier, even down to the film's structure and dialogue. Mann would bring a sense of real world aspect to Gotham like Nolan did, and his recent films Collateral and Miami Vice have both attempted to bring the audience into the universe he is creating, as if the camera was a character to the action also. Though for those that weren't a fan of those movies, Public Enemies is a glimpse towards what he could do with a very rigid universe and setting. He has just come off working with Bale, he has a body of work in the crime/thriller genre that would match up to anyone. He is a directing pro, maybe it's time he got the big gig?
A VERY DARK KNIGHT? - David Fincher to direct Batman 3
David Fincher was circling the Batman franchise before Chris Nolan came on board and for a long time the director of Fight Club and Se7en was seen as the comic book community's favourite to take on the reigns. He is possibly the most visually distinctive director of dark crime thrillers working today and he is an obsessed methodical grafter who researches every single aspect of his films before he presents them on the screen. If Se7en is the best non-official Batman movie set in a Gotham world without a masked avenger as I would suggest it is, maybe it's time to seriously think about giving him the reigns. If nothing else, he never lets studio pressure get in the way and his attitude has allowed him to make exactly the movie he sought out to make each and everytime. And with Se7en, Fight Club, The Insider, Panic Room, Zodiac and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button... he should be thankful for that.
REQUIEM FOR A BATMAN? - Darren Aronofsky to direct Batman 3
Aronofsky could have been in Chris Nolan's position, IF, he hadn't screwed up his idea and pitch to adapt Frank Miller's Year One into a Batman movie at the turn of the century. His pitch was so bad, he was never under any serious consideration from WB to direct the character. His vision was too dark for a first movie but maybe if he was to take over where the character left off in The Dark Knight, the universe could be ready for that kind of environment. The Wrestler showed what he can do with character and he has recently attached himself to the Robocop franchise, so he clearly has his sights on a big blockbuster. But is Batman a step too far, would he let his imagination go wild? He did make The Fountain remember?
BACK TO THE BEGINNING - Frank Miller to direct Batman 3
In the 80's, Frank Miller took Batman out of the ridiculous camp of the 70's comic book supernatural stories and turned him into THE DARK KNIGHT. His two depictions of Batman's legacy, the first of how he became Batman (Year One) and the other at the end of his career (The Dark Knight Returns) remain the pinnacle of storytelling for the Caped Crusader in literary form. Miller has recently took to the film industry and after great success with Sin City, his latest chance to replicate on that film's success with The Spirit didn't turn out to well. I'm certain Miller would love the opportunity to direct a Batman movie but no doubt his first choice would be to adapt The Dark Knight Returns and meddle with the CGI technology he has fallen for. Not quite what he want to see eh?
THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS - Zack Snyder
Zack Snyder was top of the list at WB to replace Christopher Nolan if the director left the franchise post-The Dark Knight but Snyder has since made it clear he would only be interested in adapting Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, in his signature green screen style, and wouldn't be interested in picking up where Nolan left off. Surely we don't want to see that happen now when there is so much life left in Nolan's franchise, with or without the talented helmer. And many still have question marks over Snyder's ability to tell a story, but we all agree his movies look pretty. Is he just style over substance, or has he shown enough talent to win himself this most lucrative job?